Atmosphere
by dS-Tiff
Summary: Ralph needs help from the team when a friend is in trouble. Meanwhile, Walter knows something happened to upset Paige when he was in space, but he can't remember anything and whatever he does just seems to make things worse between them.
1. Chapter 1

**_Set early in Season 3 between 'It Isn't The Fall That Kills You' and 'Little Boy Lost'. I hope you enjoy it, all comments welcome._**

 **ATMOSPHERE**

 **CHAPTER 1.**

"Hi Paige, is Ralph with you? I've got this awesome new Super Fun Guy model kit to show him."

Paige Dineen had just arrived at the garage and Sylvester Dodd waited with excitement for her to answer him, but to his dismay she said nothing.

"Everything OK, kid ?" asked Cabe Gallo, looking up from his newspaper with concern at Paige's distant demeanour.

Paige took three steps further into the garage without acknowledging any of the team and remained silent as she put her bag down on the couch. She turned back to look at the door as if she expected to see someone else behind her, but there was no one.

Happy Quinn glanced at Sylvester and shrugged before returning her attention to the glue she was applying to her latest project.

"Paige?" Toby Curtis walked from the kitchen with a glass of water in his hand and immediately recognised that something was wrong.

Finally Paige lifted her head and looked around with an almost startled look on her face. "Sorry, guys," she said quietly. "Did someone say something?"

Toby walked towards her. "OK, where did you leave your brain this morning?" he asked.

"Um, I, er..." she stammered. "I'll, er, I'll be right back." And with that she ran outside.

"Was that Paige?" Walter O'Brien half ran down the stairs just as the door closed behind her.

"That's debatable," noted Toby. He was being sarcastic, but he was genuinely concerned about his friend's behaviour.

"Maybe she doesn't want Ralph to help me with the model kit?" suggested Sylvester, sadly.

"I don't think she's bothered about that," replied Cabe.

"I'll go after her," said Toby, placing his glass of water on the corner of his desk and heading towards the door.

"Is something wrong with Paige?" asked Walter, suddenly concerned. "Maybe I should go?"

"Maybe she doesn't want to talk to any of you geniuses?" suggested Cabe, folding his newspaper and hanging it over the arm of the chair. "I'll go."

"Go where?" Paige suddenly appeared at the door again just as Cabe got to his feet.

Walter ran over to her. "Is everything OK?" he asked. Even he could see she was very distracted this morning.

"Is it Ralph?" asked Sylvester walking over to join the group.

Paige took a deep breath before answering. "Sorry, guys, it's nothing… it's probably nothing," she said. Then she looked at Toby. "Can I talk to you for a second, please?"

"Sure," replied Toby.

Walter opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't find the words. He wished Paige felt able to talk to him more about personal problems, but it was always Toby or Cabe that she turned to. He understood that his low EQ made him probably the least qualified out of the whole team, although he'd been starting to think that she finally understood him enough to be able to lean on him as a friend. However, since he had returned from being accidentally sent into space in Richard Elia's experimental rocket, Walter had noticed that Paige had been acting differently around him. He still had huge gaps in his memory after being deprived of oxygen in space and he could only assume that he'd said something to upset her. It was the only explanation he could think of for Paige's change of behaviour towards him and he longed to get those memories back so he could apologise.

"Outside, Toby," added Paige, deliberately avoiding eye contact with Walter. Toby exchanged a worried glance with Cabe before following Paige out of the door.

Outside Toby waited for Paige to explain what was going on, but after a few seconds of silence he decided he had to prompt her, or they could be out there all day.

"What is it?" he asked. "You're really worried about something…" he trailed off and watched her for a second. "Oh, maternal markers!" he exclaimed. "You're worried about Ralph. Where is he? Is he OK?" he added with concern.

Paige shrugged silently and nodded towards her car which was parked outside the garage. It was then that Toby noticed Ralph sitting in the front passenger seat. He was staring straight ahead, barely blinking.

"I just had to pick him up from school early," she explained. "He told his teacher he had a headache, but I know there's something else. He won't talk to me though, he said he'll only talk to you."

"To me?" said Toby in surprise and Paige nodded. "OK. Go back inside," he said, warmly. "Don't worry, I'll figure this out."

"Thanks," replied Paige. "I hate it when he shuts me out like this."

"He's eleven years old," Toby reminded her. "Sometimes kids that age just don't want to talk to their Moms."

Paige walked back into the garage. She trusted Toby and knew that he would help Ralph with whatever was troubling him, but it made her feel sad to think her son felt he couldn't confide in her instead.

Toby opened the car door and got in. "Hey, Ralph," he said. "You know your mom's freaking out right now."

"I know," replied Ralph.

"Why don't you start by telling me where it hurts?" suggested Toby.

Ralph turned to face him. "How did you know?" he asked, but he didn't really need an answer. Slowly he lifted the side of his t-shirt to reveal a large bruise just under his ribs which was slowly turning a deep shade of purple.

"Jeez, pal," said Toby with a frown and he gently began to palpate the injury. "Sorry," he said as Ralph winced. "So how did this happen?"

"I...I got into a...a fight," replied Ralph, hesitantly. "The other kid pushed me and I fell."

"Took a pretty hard whack," noted Toby.

"Sure hurts," said Ralph. "But I think it's OK."

"Why don't we go inside so I can get a proper look at you?" suggested Toby.

"Promise you won't tell my Mom?" pleaded Ralph.

"Scout's honour" replied Toby seriously.

"You were never a Boy Scout," said Ralph, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Was too… for almost an hour," replied Toby indignantly. Then at Ralph's puzzled look he added, "Long story, I'll tell you when you're older. Anyway, I promise I won't say a word to your Mom about all this, but you're gonna have to tell her eventually."

Ralph nodded and got out of the car with a sigh. He walked into the garage with Toby to find Paige talking with Cabe. She leapt to her feet as soon as she saw them.

"I'm fine, Mom," said Ralph before she had a chance to say anything.

"Go up to the loft, Ralph, I'll be right there," said Toby.

Paige moved to follow him, but Toby stopped her. "Don't worry," he tried to reassure her. "He's OK. He'll talk to you when he's ready." He crossed to his desk and picked up his medical bag.

"Why do you need your bag? Is he sick?" asked Paige, suddenly starting to panic. "Toby, tell me!" she pleaded.

"He's not sick," he reassured her. "Now just give me a few more minutes alone with him."

"Come on, kid," said Cabe, gently pulling Paige by the shoulders. "Let the Doc do his thing."

Toby nodded at Cabe and went up the stairs to find Ralph sitting on Walter's couch with his feet up. "It's kinda sore," he said as Toby walked over to him.

Toby sat on the edge of the couch and began to examine Ralph's side again. "I gotta say, pal, I'm surprised at you. What were you fighting about?" he asked.

Ralph didn't answer.

"A girl?" suggested Toby.

Ralph glared at him, but still said nothing.

"Why else would you be so embarrassed about telling your Mom?" offered Toby. "Is this about Sloan?"

"No," replied Ralph sheepishly.

"You got two girlfriends now? Good going, Ralphy-Boy!" exclaimed Toby with a grin.

"Sophie's not my girlfriend," insisted Ralph.

"Then why did some kid pick a fight with you over her?" began Toby, but then he realised something. "Wait a second… you started the fight, didn't you!" he said in surprise, not quite able to believe the markers he was reading from Ralph.

"It wasn't like that," Ralph tried to explain. "I... I think she's in trouble. Mikey Ballantine is a jerk, he was going to ruin everything. I had to stop him."

"Mikey Ballantine… let me think," began Toby. "About six inches taller than you, cheap sneakers, usually wears a green t-shirt, calls everyone 'dude' and has an Iron Man pencil case?"

"How did you know?" asked Ralph in surprise.

"How do you know the square root of ten million six hundred and fifty three thousand six hundred and ninety six?" asked Toby with a grin.

"Three thousand two hundred and sixty four," replied Ralph immediately.

"I was just about to say that," said Toby with a wink. "OK, why don't you start from the top?" he suggested. "And, you know, it'll be more efficient if I just call your mom up here now, save you repeating yourself later."

"She'll be mad at me," said Ralph with a sigh.

"No she won't," insisted Toby.

Ralph thought for a moment before eventually giving Toby a reluctant nod.

Toby smiled and crossed to Walter's desk. He clicked on the intercom and leaned forward slightly to speak into the microphone. "Paige, you can come up now," he said. "Oh, and bring some ice."

In less than a minute Paige was running up the stairs with a handful of ice cubes in a bowl. She stopped as soon as she saw Ralph's bruised ribs.

"Oh Ralph!" she exclaimed and she handed Toby the bowl so she could give her son a hug. "Is he OK?" she asked Toby with concern, but before the doc could answer she turned back to Ralph. "You could have told me about this, what happened? Does it hurt?"

"He's fine, it's just bruising," explained Toby as he wrapped some ice in a cloth and handed it to Paige. "Ralph thought you'd be mad at him," he continued. "I don't know all the details yet."

"Why would I be mad at you?" asked Paige as she applied the ice to the bruise.

"I got in a fight," Ralph told her as Toby pulled two chairs closer to the couch for Paige and himself to sit on.

"A fight!" exclaimed Paige.

"See, I told you she'd be mad," Ralph scowled at Toby.

"She's not mad, just concerned," replied Toby.

Paige took a deep breath. "Toby's right," she said, her voice much calmer now. "It's not like you, Ralph. Why were you fighting ?"

"There's this girl in my class," Ralph began. "Her name's Sophie. For the last few weeks she's been coming into school with marks on her face and arms. Bruises and burns. And she's been acting kinda strange too. I was worried she was in trouble at home so I tried to make friends with her, I wanted to help. She was always one of the kids who didn't talk to me, y'know, because they think I'm weird."

" Weird is an abstract concept," said Toby. "Genius, on the other hand, can be scientifically measured. Those kids know nothing."

"I know," agreed Ralph. "Anyway, I was starting to get somewhere with Sophie, I think she was beginning to trust me. I found out she likes cats and video games so I asked her to play Magic Animal House with me at recess. She's really good at it, but I couldn't get her to talk about her parents, or tell me anything about her home life. I tried everything you taught me, Toby, but she won't open up to me. I guess I'm not cut out to be a psychiatrist."

"You can be whatever you want to be," said Toby earnestly. "Sounds like you've been doing all the right things. It just takes a little longer with some people."

"Maybe, but I think I'll just stick with math and science," said Ralph, pointedly. "I wasn't going to give up with Sophie though. We're Scorpion, we help people and we don't give up, right?"

Paige smiled proudly at her son. "That's right," she said.

"So I suggested we play online after school and I've been video chatting with her too," continued Ralph. "She talks kinda quietly on Skype like she doesn't want anyone else at home to hear her, but I felt I was making progress this last week. Then Mikey found out about Magic Animal House and he started on Sophie today in the lunch hall, saying dumb things about me. I could see she was embarrassed about people knowing she was my friend and I couldn't risk her backing off, not when I'm so close."

"So you thought you'd shut Mikey up," noted Toby.

Ralph looked apologetically at Paige. "He was saying really mean things. I... I had seconds to do something before Sophie totally freaked out and then she might never have talked to me again," he explained. "So I lunged at him, just like Cabe showed me, but he dodged out of the way and pushed me backwards."

"Why didn't your teacher tell me you'd been in a fight?" asked Paige.

"It was right at the end of lunch, no one else really saw what happened," Ralph explained. "We need to help Sophie, Mom, she could be in real trouble," he added urgently. "I have an idea, but I might need Walter's help."

Ten minutes later Ralph had explained everything to Walter, with Cabe, Sylvester and Happy also listening in.

"You did a good thing there, kiddo," said Cabe proudly. "Standing up for a girl like that."

"Er, girls can stand up for themselves too, you know," Happy pointed out with a scowl.

"And I'm not sure we should be praising Ralph for fighting," noted Paige as Toby handed her a cup of coffee. She smiled at him appreciatively. She was relieved that Ralph wasn't in serious trouble, or badly hurt, but she was still reeling from the fact that her son had chosen to confide in one of his fellow geniuses instead of her. She hoped the caffeine would help take her mind off it.

"I won't do it again, Mom," insisted Ralph. He adjusted the ice which he was still clutching to his side. "Hurts too much."

"So why do you need my help?" asked Walter .

"Child abuse is a federal offence," said Cabe. "Just give me the kid's address and I'll have the place crawling with Feds in ten minutes."

"No, Cabe!" exclaimed Ralph. "What if I'm wrong? It's just a hunch. We need more evidence first."

"You can't just go barging into a child's home with weapons," said Sylvester, breaking into a light sweat at the thought of it. "You'll give her nightmares for the rest of her life."

"Sly's right," agreed Toby. "This could be a very delicate situation. A terrified child is not going to be much use if you need to press charges against, say, her father. We're making huge assumptions here, but if that is what's going on her emotional state is already fragile at best."

"I tried to hack into her laptop," began Ralph. "I figured it would be easy after we'd connected online , but there's a firewall and I wasn't sure what to do."

"I've seen you hack through firewalls in minutes," said Walter, frowning in puzzlement. "What's different about this one?"

"I didn't say I couldn't get through it," Ralph pointed out. "I said I didn't know what to do. It's a government firewall. I recognised it. I've seen Walter break through it plenty of times."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, shall I?" suggested Cabe with a knowing look at Walter , who simply shrugged defiantly.

"Why would an eleven year old girl have a government firewall on her laptop?" asked Happy .

"Perhaps one of her parents is a government employee?" suggested Sylvester.

"That's what I thought," said Ralph, putting his parcel of ice down on the desk. "I didn't want to get Scorpion into trouble."

"That was very thoughtful," smiled Paige. "Because it's usually me who has to do the explaining when you guys do that kind of thing," she added, with a knowing look at Walter.

"I figured Walter could get through without leaving a trace," continued Ralph.

"Of course," nodded Walter and he ran round to the other side of the desk and opened his laptop. Ralph picked up his tablet and followed Walter.

Paige rolled her eyes, but she knew there was little point in trying to stop them.

"Am I the only one a little uncomfortable with hacking into an eleven year old girl's computer?" asked Sylvester and Paige was about to agree with him when Ralph leapt to his feet in excitement.

"We're in!" he exclaimed. "Look for a personal journal," he suggested to Walter. "Or a blog."

"Check her browsing history too," said Toby. "There are forums where abused kids go to talk to each other, where they feel safe."

"If she keeps a journal it'll be in code," added Happy. "We had abused kids at the foster home. One of the few times I ever figured my life wasn't so bad after all," she added and Toby put his arm around her shoulders lovingly.

"Her father is a Government Agent, Jonathan Stamos," said Walter, reading from his computer screen. "Drug Enforcement."

Sylvester tapped a few keys on his keyboard. "Not any more he isn't," he said. "I'm into the DEA personnel records. Agent Stamos was killed in a road accident about four years ago. His wife was badly injured in the crash, wound up in a wheelchair."

"Could be there's another man in her life now?" suggested Happy.

"Evil stepfather?" offered Sylvester with a shudder.

"We're getting way ahead of ourselves, guys," said Paige. "There's no real evidence that Sophie is being abused."

"Maybe she's just accident prone?" shrugged Toby.

"But Mom!" protested Ralph.

"Look, I'm not saying we shouldn't check this out," replied Paige, much to her son's relief. "All I'm saying is we should keep an open mind."

"I'll go round there," offered Cabe.

"And grill the little girl until she confesses she's been lying to Ralph? Great idea!" said Toby, sarcastically. "Don't forget the thumb screws!"

"Somebody needs to pay her a visit before she gets hurt again," said Sylvester urgently.

"Paige and I will go with Ralph," said Toby. "She knows Ralph, she trusts him and Paige is a safe, motherly figure."

"Motherly?" queried Paige in disgust. "I didn't think I was that old!"

"You have a son, that makes you a mother," Happy pointed out and Paige scowled at her.

"You know what I mean," said Toby. "And I'm just a friendly, neighbourhood shrink. "

"If she lies to us about someone beating on her you'll know, won't you, Toby?" asked Ralph.

"In about three seconds," Toby assured him.

"Comms in," said Walter producing the familiar box of earpieces from his desk drawer and putting one of the tiny earpieces into his ear.

"This isn't a mission," Paige pointed out.

"No, but we can record everything you hear for evidence," replied Happy, handing her an earpiece before putting one in her own ear.

"I'm not sure how legal that is," said Sylvester with a concerned look on his face as he positioned his earpiece.

" Let me worry about that, if it comes to it," said Cabe, securing his own comm link.

"Let's go!" said Ralph, eagerly and he raced towards the door.

"He must really like this girl," Toby muttered under his breath as he fitted his earpiece before slinging his medical bag over his shoulder and following his young friend out of the garage.

Paige hesitated. She really didn't know what she was going to say to Sophie. This had all happened so fast that she'd barely had time to think about the implications.

"I'm texting you the address," said Walter and Paige's phone beeped out a text alert almost before he'd finished speaking.

"Thanks," she said and turned to leave.

"Um, Paige, er, wait," Walter called out, leaping out of his chair to follow her. He almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to stop her leaving.

Paige paused in the doorway. "Toby and Ralph are already in the car," she said as he caught up with her.

"I know, but I just… I, um, I…" began Walter, but he couldn't get his words out. He reached out to touch her arm, but snatched his hand back at the last second.

"What is it?" asked Paige.

"I just wondered if Timothy, er, Tim would be, um, this evening, that is, I was wondering if you and he were planning to…" Walter felt his face flush and he gave up trying to complete his sentence. He knew Paige would be angry with him for asking about Tim, but he just couldn't help himself.

"Not that it's any of your business, but Tim is out of town for a couple of days," snapped Paige. "He's helping a friend move house."

"Oh, right, I see," replied Walter. "I apologise, I was concerned that you two were fighting, or something."

"Why would we be fighting? Either way, still none of your business!" exclaimed Paige. "And you weren't concerned, you were hoping."

"Well, yes, no, er, perhaps, but if you and Tim were fighting it would most likely interfere with the smooth running of Scorpion and therefore it becomes my business," Walter tried to explain.

"Walter, I know you don't like the situation, but being with Tim makes me happy, so get used to it," Paige demanded. "And if we were fighting - which we're not - but if we were, Tim and I are both professional enough not to let our personal feelings interfere with our work. It would be really nice if you could learn to do the same. I'm going now, Toby and Ralph are waiting."

Walter watched as Paige stormed out of the garage. He sighed deeply, angry with himself for upsetting Paige. It seemed to be happening more and more lately and he didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't help but think it had to do with whatever it was that happened while he was in space, but he simply couldn't remember what had happened so he couldn't begin to figure out the connection.

"You gotta learn to keep your mouth shut, son."

Walter jumped and spun round at the sound of Cabe's voice. "I… I…" he stammered. Then he remembered they were all wearing comms so everyone had heard him make a fool of himself again.

"Paige's private life is really none of your business," Cabe warned.

"I am concerned for the welfare of my staff, that's all," retorted Walter and he marched back up to the loft. Cabe watched him go, shaking his head in despair.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2.**

"Left here," said Toby as Paige waited at the junction. He glanced over his shoulder at Ralph and saw the young genius was replaying some of the video chats he'd had with Sophie on his tablet to see if he'd missed anything.

Toby turned back to Paige and slipped his comm link out of his ear. "You OK?" he asked her in a low voice.

Paige turned to look at him and shrugged silently.

"I heard you and Walter before we left the garage," continued Toby.

Paige sighed and removed her own earpiece. "Everyone did," she replied curtly. There was a gap in the traffic and she pulled out of the junction.

"I'm not making excuses for him," began Toby, with another glance at Ralph to make sure he wasn't listening. "But he doesn't know how to process all of this."

"I know," replied Paige. "But he's acting like… I don't know, like he's jealous of Tim and he has no right to be. He had his chance two years ago and he made it quite clear that he didn't want there to be anything between us."

"You don't really think he meant that, do you?" asked Toby.

"I don't know what to think," replied Paige. "Tim and I are together and I don't need Walter's approval, but I'd appreciate his support as a friend. All this tension is… I just don't know how much more I can take?"

Toby nodded understandingly and wished he could say something that would help, but he knew there was nothing. Paige was right, Walter had had his chance, but he'd blown it. Paige had been ready to take their relationship further after he'd recovered from the car accident, but Walter had told her that wasn't want he wanted. Toby would never understand why Walter had chosen to lie to Paige back then, but he had and it really seemed like there was no going back. Paige had done the only thing she could have done after that, she'd moved on. Except Toby could tell she hadn't completely moved on and that was just making the whole situation more complicated.

"Paige," Toby continued. "What's the significance of Baked Alaska?"

Paige gasped. "I don't want to talk about this now," she hissed at him, fighting a sudden wave of emotion.

"OK," shrugged Toby. "But my door's always open, you know that, right?"

Paige nodded and smiled appreciatively. She forced all thoughts of Walter out of her mind and tried to focus on Ralph's friend and whatever trouble she might be in.

"This is it," said Toby, pointing out of the car window at a run-down apartment building.

Paige pulled over and parked the car. She spun round in her seat and spoke to Ralph. "Are you sure they were bruises and burns you saw?" she asked.

"Mom, I'm a genius," Ralph reminded her. "I know what I saw."

The three of them got out of the car and walked into the building. Sophie's apartment was on the fourth floor.

"Looks like that thing hasn't worked in weeks," noted Toby as they passed the tatty 'Out of Order' sign on the door of the only lift in the building. "If Sly was right about Sophie's Mom using a wheelchair she's probably been stuck in her apartment since they put up that sign."

They climbed the stairs and found apartment number twenty four. Paige knocked on the door.

"Toby, let me do most of the talking," she said.

"But this is my thing!" Toby objected. "This is what I do!"

"Yes, but sometimes your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired," Paige reminded him.

"She's right," came Happy's voice over the comms.

Before Toby had time to protest the apartment door opened slightly and a young girl peered out. She looked surprised to see Ralph and nervous to see he was with two adults she didn't recognise.

"Hi Sophie," said Ralph. "This is my Mom and my friend Toby. Can we come in?"

Sophie didn't answer.

"Hey, I remember you from the theatre field trip last year," smiled Paige. "You had that cute little backpack with the panda on it, right?"

There was a flicker of recognition in Sophie's eyes.

"We just want to talk to you," said Ralph.

Sophie hesitated for a moment before answering. "Are you OK after what happened at school today?" she asked. "I can't believe you got in a fight with Mikey."

"I'm OK," replied Ralph with a dismissive shrug. "So… can we come in?"

Sophie nodded. "Sure," she said opening the door wider. "But my Mom's asleep right now."

Paige, Toby and Ralph followed the girl inside. The apartment was small with a limited amount of furniture and Paige immediately noticed the makeshift wooden ramp laid across the high step which marked the entrance to the kitchen. She glanced round at Toby who was looking around the room intently.

Toby caught her eye and leaned in to whisper in her ear as they sat down on the sofa with Ralph. "This room looks like an eleven year old girl's bedroom," he noted.

Paige looked around and realised he was right. Every cushion on the sofa was pink and there were fairy lights and heart shaped decorations everywhere.

"Is it just you and your Mom here?" Paige asked the little girl.

"Yeah," replied Sophie. "My Dad…" she trailed off.

"We know about your Dad," said Ralph.

"And we're sorry," added Paige, reaching out and giving Sophie's arm a gentle squeeze.

Sophie snatched her arm away and turned her head to look towards the kitchen. "Thank you," she said quietly.

Toby glanced at Paige. He realised that even she would have recognised Sophie's instinct to pull away from physical touch and difficulty making eye contact as the typical reactions of a child who had been abused. There could be another reason, though, he acknowledged. He hadn't seen enough yet to be certain.

"Sophie," began Toby, gently. "Ralph wanted us to come and see you today because he's kinda worried about you."

"Why?" asked Sophie, finally looking back at Toby and then to Ralph.

"You're always getting hurt," said Ralph. "Toby's a doctor, why don't you show him your arms?"

"You're a doctor?" Sophie asked Toby. "You don't look like a doctor. I've never seen a doctor wearing a hat like that."

Toby considered her statement for a moment and concluded he was quite content with his unconventional look. His hat was part of who he was and besides, he always got a kick out of the look on people's faces when he told them about his medical qualifications.

"Well I am," Toby confirmed with a nod. "And I think your left arm's hurting you right now. I can help you with that."

Sophie wrapped her arms protectively around herself and looked at Paige.

Paige smiled warmly at her, suddenly realising Toby's earlier description of her as 'motherly' was true. She also realised it was something to be proud of, Sophie was looking to her for reassurance. "We'd really like to help you, sweetie," she said.

"OK," she said eventually. "It is kinda uncomfortable right now. I ran it under cold water, I read that you're meant to do that to burns, but it still hurts."

"You burnt your arm?" asked Paige sympathetically and Sophie nodded. Paige helped her to pull her left arm out of the sleeve of her cardigan and Toby gently took her wrist in his hand.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," he reassured her as she flinched. He studied the burn mark and then turned her arm over, counting several bruises in various stages of healing. "How did you get burnt?" he asked.

"On the stove," replied Sophie.

"And these bruises?" queried Toby, resting her arm down onto her lap.

Sophie shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I'm kinda clumsy," she replied.

"You must be real clumsy," said Ralph. "You've always got bruises, I've seen them."

"You don't have to lie to us, sweetie," said Paige. "Nothing bad will happen to you if you tell us the truth."

"I am telling you the truth!" said Sophie, her eyes suddenly wide.

"She is," confirmed Toby and he opened his medical bag.

Paige was stunned. "Really?" she said, exchanging a puzzled look with her son.

"Yep," said Toby, looking at Paige with a smile of relief. "These injuries are all accidental."

"Thank God for that!" exclaimed Cabe over the comms.

Then Toby looked at Sophie. "Ralph was worried someone might be hurting you," he explained and Sophie shook her head vigorously. "Now I'm just going to put some ointment on this arm and a bandage," continued Toby. "Then I think we should talk with your Mom."

"You can't," replied Sophie as Toby began to work on her arm.

"Why not?" asked Paige. "You're not in trouble, we just want to see if there's anything we can do to help." She was as relieved as Cabe that Sophie wasn't being abused, but it was obvious that the little girl was having a difficult time with something at the moment.

"She's… she's sick," Sophie explained. "Everything was fine before she got sick. She always told me that we can do whatever we want, that the wheelchair doesn't matter, but lately she just sleeps all the time," she added sadly.

"And so you have to do everything around the place," Toby said, as he began to realise why the little girl had been having so many accidents. "Cooking, cleaning, reaching heavy stuff down from high shelves, am I right? And sometimes it's just too much for you."

"I try to help my Mom," insisted Sophie. "I do everything I can, but we've only got a dumb old step ladder and it tips over all the time. Then there's the stove, it's so high and I can't lift the heavy pans properly and I keep on burning my arms."

"Don't you have any other adults you can go to for help?" asked Ralph as Toby secured the end of the bandage.

Sophie shook her head. "I don't know what to do," she admitted, close to tears now. "Mom's getting worse and worse, she's never been this sick before. I just want her to get better."

"Toby, you can help," said Ralph, suddenly. "Toby's a genius, I'm sure he can help your Mom," he explained to his new friend.

"You don't look like a genius either," noted Sophie, looking Toby up and down for the second time since they'd arrived.

"Ralph, even Toby can't make everyone better," said Paige.

"Oh ye of little faith," retorted Toby. "I haven't even met the patient yet. I guarantee I'll be the smartest doctor who's ever treated her."

Paige frowned. "But it's important for Ralph to remember that sometimes even geniuses can't fix everything, or save everyone," she said.

"Oh, right, yes," replied Toby, although it was obvious he didn't really agree with her statement. "Important life lesson there, Ralphy. Now, Sophie, take me to your Mom and watch a genius at work."

Paige shook her head, making a mental note to talk to Toby about it later.

Sophie led them all into her Mom's bedroom. It was small like the rest of the apartment and there wasn't much daylight coming in through the window. A wheelchair stood in the corner of the room with a huge teddy bear on the seat.

Toby looked at the woman lying in the bed with concern. Her skin was pale and her breathing was shallow, she certainly didn't look well at all.

"Mom, Mom!" said Sophie, shaking her sleeping mother by the shoulder. "Ralph's here, my new friend from school, the one I told you about," she said.

Ralph looked at Paige with an embarrassed smile and Paige nodded proudly at her son. His hunch that Sophie was being abused may have been wrong, but he had been right about her needing help.

Sophie's Mom opened her eyes and tried to focus, but Paige could see she was really struggling.

"And he brought his Mom and a genius doctor!" continued Sophie excitedly.

The woman could barely move, but she turned her head slightly to look at Toby, Paige and Ralph.

"I'm Paige and this is Toby," said Paige. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Lisa," the woman said in a croaky voice.

"Hi Lisa," said Toby, crossing the room and sitting on the edge of her bed. "Sophie said you've been sick for a while now."

"Yes," replied Lisa, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Toby checked her pulse and shot a worried look at Paige before opening his bag to find his stethoscope.

"The doctor said it was in infection," explained Sophie as Toby examined her mother. "He gave her some pills and said she'd be better in a few days, but she just got worse."

"We need to get her to the hospital," announced Toby. "Can someone call 911?" he asked, putting his finger in his ear to secure his comm as he spoke.

"I'm on it," Sylvester's voice came back.

"No!" exclaimed Sophie. "You can't! Please don't call 911!"

"Er, Sly, scratch 911 for now," said Toby with a puzzled frown at the little girl's sudden terror.

"Copy that," replied Sylvester's voice.

"Your Mom's sick," Paige tried to explain. "She needs to be in the hospital."

"No… please…" Lisa just about mustered enough strength to speak again. "I don't… I don't want to…"

"Lisa, you're dehydrated and the infection has really taken hold," Toby explained. "You need fluids and IV antibiotics and…"

"But they'll take me away!" Sophie interrupted him, tears streaming down her face now.

Paige crouched beside her and put a comforting arm around her. "Why do you think that, sweetie?"

"They almost did before!" wailed Sophie. "They said this place isn't good enough, they said Mom can't take care of me, but that's not true."

"Had to fight… to keep her," breathed Lisa. "Please… I can't leave her."

"Toby, what's going on?" asked Walter over the comms.

"Give me a minute," replied Toby. He considered the options for a moment. Obviously Lisa had a history with Child Services. He didn't know the full story yet, but he assumed that it had been a struggle ever since the accident for Lisa to prove she could raise her child as a single mother despite being partially paralysed. Being admitted to hospital now could be enough of an excuse for them to put Sophie into foster care and once she was in the system, it wasn't easy to get out of it.

"Paige, a word?" Toby asked. Paige nodded and they stepped outside the room.

"I'm not a doctor, but I can see she's really sick," said Paige as the door closed behind them. "We have to get her to the hospital."

"But she's an adult with full mental capacity, we can't force her to go against her will," Toby pointed out.

"I'm really worried about Sophie," added Paige with a sigh. "She can't go on living like this. What if something happens to Lisa?"

Toby nodded. "I'm worried about her welfare too," he said. "And If I was doing this by the book, I'd be calling Child Services right now."

"You can't do that!" exclaimed Paige.

"Don't you dare, Doc!" Happy yelled into the comms. She knew more than any of them what it was like to be a child in foster care and she wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"Of course I'm not going to do that!" replied Toby indignantly. "When do I ever do anything by the book?"

"So what are we going to do?" asked Paige.

"Step one, I'm gonna make Lisa well again," Toby stated with determination. "Step two, we make Sophie's life easier for her. Guys, get over here," he added. "I think we have some work to do."

Toby and Paige went back into Lisa's bedroom. "Sophie," he said. "Your Mom is severely dehydrated, she needs water."

"I tried, but she can't swallow properly," explained Sophie with a pained expression.

"Don't worry, I'll show you how you can help her," said Toby, then he spoke to Lisa. "I'm gonna do everything I can," he assured her. "But if you don't improve in the next six hours I'm taking you to the hospital."

"OK," croaked Lisa gratefully.

Toby produced a large, plastic syringe from his medical bag and showed Sophie how to fill it with water so she could dispense it slowly into Lisa's mouth. Sophie climbed onto the bed and followed Toby's instructions. Just as he had suspected, Lisa was able to swallow the water in small doses. "Just a little at a time," he said. "Now, Lisa, did your doctor leave your clinical notes with you?"

Lisa nodded as she sipped at the water and pointed weakly to the drawer of her bedside table. Paige reached across, found a manila folder in the drawer and passed it to Toby. Toby sat on the end of the bed, opened the folder and began scanning down the pages. His brow furrowed into a frown as he flipped through the paperwork. "This doctor of yours, where did he train?" he asked eventually.

"I… I don't know?" replied Lisa.

"Well it sure wasn't Harvard," retorted Toby. "He's a moron!"

"Toby!" hissed Paige. "Bedside manner, remember?"

Toby nodded apologetically. "Sorry, Lisa, but I've known you for fourteen minutes and I've already figured out why you're so sick and what to do about it."

"You have?" said Paige in surprise.

"No, I just thought I'd cruelly build up the hopes of a sick woman and an eleven year old girl," retorted Toby.

"He's being sarcastic," Ralph explained to Sophie. "He does that a lot."

Toby looked around the bedroom and spotted a small plastic crate with a lid on the dressing table. "Are those your meds?" he asked and Lisa nodded. Toby stood up and picked up the crate. He lifted the lid and threw it on the floor. Paige rolled her eyes and picked it up.

"She has to take meds for her kidneys and other stuff and the new ones now too. I've organised them so she takes them all at the right time," explained Sophie.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing here," replied Toby, sitting back down on the bed and resting the crate on his lap. He picked up one of the smaller cardboard boxes from inside and read the label. "Pain relief," he noted. "You've been taking these since the accident?" he asked and Lisa nodded. "I thought you had your accident four years ago, not forty."

"I don't understand?" said Paige.

"That medication has been superseded," said Ralph and Toby nodded in agreement.

"Super what?" asked Sophie.

"It means it's old," Ralph explained. "There's a new version with less side effects."

Paige smiled proudly at her son. Even now he still surprised her with his knowledge.

Toby flung the small box over his shoulder and picked up two small bottles of pills from the crate. He looked briefly at the labels before throwing one onto the floor. "You don't need to take both of these," he said, then he picked up two more small cardboard boxes. "And you shouldn't be taking these two together," he said, sending them both flying over his shoulder.

"Toby!" yelled Paige, but she knew he wouldn't listen to her.

He took out another bottle from the crate. "I thought they'd banned these!" he exclaimed and threw them onto the floor with the others. Then he grabbed two more small boxes and read the labels. "These will counteract each other," he said and they soon joined the rest of the discarded medication.

"What's going on?" asked Happy over the comms. "I can hear crashing noises."

"Um, Toby's just, um, reorganising Lisa's meds," Paige explained as Toby continued to discard bottles and boxes.

"OK," replied Happy. "We're on our way over now."

"Lisa," said Toby, suddenly leaping to his feet. "I'm going to head over to the hospital with Paige and pick up some supplies," he said. "Don't worry, this can all be fixed. I'll be back soon."

"Thank you," whispered Lisa.

"Sophie, keep giving your Mom the water," said Toby. "Ralph, the guys will be here soon. Your Mom and I should be back in forty five minutes."

Toby walked out of the room and Paige hurried after him. "Why do you need me to come with you to the hospital?" she asked.

Toby sighed. "Because I need to call in a favour from someone I haven't seen in a while," he began. "And… how can I put this… she hates me."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3.**

"Sophie, this is Sylvester, Happy, Cabe and Walter." Ralph beamed when the rest of the team arrived.

"And they're all geniuses?" she asked as they walked into her apartment. "Like you and Doctor Toby?"

While they were waiting for the others to arrive at Sophie's apartment, Ralph had been telling his friend all about Scorpion and some of their missions. Usually he didn't talk about Scorpion with anyone at school because they either didn't believe him, or they made fun of him, or both. Ralph had decided that as Sophie wasn't likely to do either of those things and she was about to witness the team at work, it was OK to tell her.

"I'm not," replied Cabe, "but I'm pretty good with my hands so I figured I'd could still help you out."

"So where should we start?" Walter asked Sophie, bending his knees slightly so he could make eye contact with her.

Walter had learnt from Paige and Toby that eye contact was an important communication skill, but he always found it easier to achieve with children than adults. He wondered if this was because he knew a child would be more likely to take him at his word and not make unfair judgements. Adults often quickly formed a negative opinion of him based on his social awkwardness and therefore automatically dismissed the things he said as nonsense, which made body language all the more important when trying to communicate. Of course the more important Walter knew it was, the more awkward he felt having to force his body to comply. Sometimes he felt he would never master social interaction.

He suddenly realised he wasn't smiling. He made a mental note to remember eye contact and smiling at the same time in future and the corners of his mouth twitched into a slightly goofy, but warm smile.

Sophie seemed to appreciate the gesture and she smiled back, but her expression quickly changed into a confused frown. "I… I don't know? I'm not sure how else you can help me?" she replied, looking at Ralph with a shrug.

"Just tell us about all the things you do in a typical day," said Ralph. "We'll do the rest."

"OK, well, I get up early and make breakfast for Mom," began Sophie. "She likes oatmeal, except she hasn't really eaten anything for three days since she got really sick."

"And you make it on the stove?" asked Sylvester. "Do you know the number of house fires caused by pans boiling over each year?"

"She doesn't need to know that," Cabe interrupted, seeing Sophie's worried look. "Go on, kiddo. What else do you do?"

Sophie went on to explain everything to them. She really hoped Ralph and his genius friends were going to be able to make her life easier like he'd promised, although she had no idea how they were going to do it.

"OK, I'll start with fixing that elevator," said Happy when Sophie had finished talking. She picked up her bag of tools and walked out into the hall.

"I'll take a look at your cable connection," said Walter. "See if I can find those missing cartoon channels you mentioned."

"Let me see if I can make your kitchen safer for you," said Cabe with a warm smile. "We don't want you having any more accidents."

"And if you'll allow me to use your laptop, I have a few ideas too," said Sylvester with a huge smile.

"You'd do all of this for me?" asked Sophie, not quite able to believe this was happening.

Walter nodded. "Of course, you're Ralph's friend," he said. "And Scorpion is a family so we help each other out. OK, guys, let's get on with this."

xXxXxXxXx

"Just take it! Take all of it if it means I never have to see your nauseating little face again, Tobias!" The woman in green clinical scrubs thrust a huge bag of medical equipment into Toby's outstretched arms almost knocking him backwards. "Now get out of my sight!"

"Nauseating? That's a little harsh," replied Toby, calmly. "I can tell you've been fighting with your Mom again and you're upset about something you lost… a ring, no, a necklace… but really, that's not my fault."

"Don't do that!" the woman almost screamed at him. "Don't you dare shrink me! Not in my hospital!"

"Maybe we should all calm down?" suggested Paige. From the heated conversation she had just witnessed between Toby and the woman it was clear that they weren't exactly old friends.

"I will calm down as soon as you get this idiot out of my sight," snapped the woman.

"We're leaving now," Paige reassured her and she picked up a red case which the woman had given them and grabbed Toby by the elbow. "My son's friend will be very grateful for your help," she added, smiling as sweetly as she could. "And please just send the bill to Homeland, I gave you the contact details."

"You did," confirmed the woman. "And Tobias, next time you need a favour from me, don't bother, do you understand?"

"Oh I understand," replied Toby with a knowing grin. "I understand completely."

"Toby, let's go!" said Paige before another argument could start and she dragged him out of the hospital. "What the hell was all that about?" she asked as soon as they were outside.

"She hates me," replied Toby with a nonchalant shrug.

"You don't need to be a genius behaviourist to figure that out," noted Paige, dryly. "What did you do to her in a past life?"

"Nothing," replied Toby. "She was a classmate at Harvard. We did a couple of rotations together too. Now she's a bigshot at the hospital so I figured she'd be glad to help out a little girl and her sick, disabled mother."

"That doesn't explain why she hates you," Paige pointed out as they loaded the medical equipment into the back of her car.

"Well she's so easy to read and it was always way too much fun to press her buttons," replied Toby with a grin.

"Clearly she did not think it was fun," noted Paige, getting into the car and starting the engine.

"Yeah, well, maybe she lost her sense of humour when her sister left me for that jerk, Quincy Berkstead," Toby explained with a sigh.

"She's your ex-fiance's sister?" said Paige in surprise and Toby nodded. "Well, that explains a lot," she added.

xXxXxXxXx

"Hey, Doc, Paige." Happy waved a can of oil at them as she spoke.

"Hi, Happy, love of my life." Toby leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"Doc, I'm kinda busy with this elevator mo tor!" exclaimed Happy, pushing him away.

"C'mon, Toby," said Paige, pushing past them and stepping over Happy's toolbox to get to the stairs. "You have a patient waiting for you."

"I know," replied Toby, making a move to follow her. Then he stopped and spun round. "Oh, Happy , a quick question," he began casually. "Who is it you're married to?"

Happy picked up a greasy rag and threw it at him. Toby ducked out of the way, almost crashing into Paige in the process.

"Toby, the very sick lady is waiting for you!" Paige said urgently, dragging him towards the stairs.

"Just be thankful that wasn't a screwdriver!" Happy called after them.

"Why do you do that?" Paige asked him as they climbed to the fourth floor. "You know she'll be mad at you."

"Because I'm upset," replied Toby. "I don't understand why she won't tell me? She said she doesn't love this other guy, so it's not like it matters."

"If it doesn't matter why do you keep bugging her about it?" asked Paige. "Just give her some space. She said she was dealing with it, you have to trust her to fix this on her own."

"I do trust her," insisted Toby. "I just don't like her keeping things from me."

"She doesn't mean to hurt you," Paige tried to explain. "But you know more than anyone how hard she finds it to open up. Even to you. I'm sure she'll learn, though."

Toby nodded. "Nothing worse than a genius who can't talk openly about their feelings," he said, with a knowing look. "Causes all kinds of heartache, am I right?"

Paige scowled at him. "We were talking about you and Happy," she said.

"And we still are," replied Toby, in mock surprise. "Who did you think we were talking about?"

They'd reached Sophie's apartment now and Paige hesitated before knocking. "Just get in there and make Sophie's Mom well again," she said with a glare.

xXxXxXxXx

"Elevator's working again." Happy dropped her heavy bag of tools onto the floor of the apartment as she spoke and closed the door behind her. Her face was smeared with grease and her hands were sore from working with seized machine parts that hadn't been maintained properly, but the sense of achievement she always felt when she'd fixed something took all of the discomfort away.

"Go and help Cabe, he's in the kitchen," said Walter, bluntly. He was down on his hands and knees sorting out the wiring behind the TV set and spoke without even looking at Happy.

"Great job with the elevator," said Paige quickly before Happy could snap at Walter for the way he had spoken to her. "I'll get you a glass of water, it looks like you need it."

"Thanks, waitress," nodded Happy, with a scowl Paige hoped was aimed at Walter and not her.

Paige had learnt that Happy didn't refer to her as 'waitress' as an insult, even though it sounded like it. She may have been making some progress with Walter's EQ, despite a lot of setbacks, but Happy was a completely different project, one that she was yet to tackle. She'd decided it was probably best to leave Happy's emotional progress to Toby, although the way things were between the two of them lately Paige was just as worried about him at the moment. Sometimes she almost wondered why she'd ever taken this job. She glanced over at Walter who was still busy connecting cables… and then, with a tiny smile, she remembered exactly why.

"Try it now, Sylvester," Walter called out as Paige and Happy walked off to the kitchen.

Sylvester tapped a few keys on the laptop and then smiled broadly. "That's it, it's working now," he said. Then he turned to Sophie who was sitting next to him on the sofa. "See? Your laptop is connected to your TV using this app, so you can control the DVR from any room in the house."

"I've fitted a signal booster," explained Walter, not that Sophie knew what a signal booster was. "Because you're on the fourth floor of the building the signal has to travel through a long length of cable which causes degradation in the quality of both audio and video outputs," Walter began to explain. "This unit was designed to boost the signal by 4 dB, but I've modified it so the increase is closer to 8 dB. You should see an immediate difference."

"Um, thanks… I think," replied Sophie, perplexed by the technical jargon.

Paige walked out of the kitchen just in time to hear the end of Walter's science lesson. "Ask Ralph to explain it to you later," she whispered to Sophie. "I'm going to go see how your Mom's doing."

"Oh and I've retuned the receiver so you have all the cartoon channels again," added Walter as Paige disappeared into the bedroom.

"I love watching cartoons, they help me to relax," said Sophie.

"Relaxation is a very important," noted Sylvester. "Have you ever tried yoga?"

"Don't bother, it's inefficient," said Walter before Sophie had time to reply. Sylvester frowned at him. "I've also boosted your wi-fi signal which should prevent the screen freezing when you're video chatting with Ralph," Walter continued.

"Thank you, it's so annoying when it does that," replied Sophie. She smiled coyly at Ralph and Sylvester couldn't help grinning at them. He remembered what it was like to have a crush on a girl in his class at that age . Michelle McDonagh had been tall, slim and athletic, basically everything Sylvester wasn't, but she'd been the only one who'd dared talk to him when the bullying became really bad and she would never know how grateful he was for that.

"Let me show you what I've been doing," said Sylvester and Sophie looked wide-eyed at the screen of her laptop. "Your wi-fi and utilities are now all on monthly payment plans," he began to explain, "and I've produced a budget so you know exactly how much you can spend on groceries without running out. There's even a little left over for you to treat yourself. When your Mom's up and about again this will help her too."

Sophie gratefully flung her arms around Sylvester and he gave her a warm hug.

"Hey, kiddo," Cabe called from kitchen. "Come here a minute, Happy needs to check something with you."

Sophie got to her feet and skipped into the kitchen, just as Paige appeared again from the bedroom door.

"How's Sophie's mother?" asked Sylvester.

"She's still very weak, but Toby says she's responding well to the treatment," replied Paige.

"Ah," said Walter. "That's encouraging news."

"Um, Walter," began Paige, hesitantly. "Can I... can I talk to you?"

"Yes," responded Walter, with no hint of emotion.

Paige rolled her eyes and wondered if it was worth bothering, but she quickly realised that she had to talk to him before her guilt started to eat away at her.

"Um, I might just go help Cabe and Happy," said Sylvester, feeling suddenly very awkward. "Ralph, I think Sophie called you."

Ralph had been helping Walter with the wiring and he got to his feet with a confused look on his face. "I didn't hear her," he said.

"I did," insisted Sylvester, standing up from his chair. "Loud and clear. In fact it sounded quite urgent." He grabbed Ralph's hand and almost dragged the startled young genius out of the room.

"You see?" said Paige, once she and Walter were alone. "You see the atmosphere you've created? Sylvester is terrified of getting involved in anything we have to say to each other."

"One, Sylvester is terrified of everything and two, if you and I are having a private conversation then no-one else should be getting involved anyway," retorted Walter. "Therefore your attempt to blame me for creating an atmosphere – which, I might add, is a purely arbitrary concept based on the kind of psychobabble nonsense Toby spouts – is irrelevant."

Paige clenched her teeth. This was not how she'd hoped this conversation would go. Already they were snapping at each other and although she hated fighting with Walter, she knew she was partly to blame. She was supposed to be the one with the high EQ and yet she allowed him to get under her skin. For the good of their friendship Paige knew she had to learn to keep her temper in check. Toby would be the first to tell her that she only got so angry with Walter because of her feelings for him, but that was beside the point. She knew now that he felt the same about her because he'd admitted as such, albeit while he was in an oxygen-starved delusional state. The trouble was she hadn't yet worked out how to process that information.

Paige forced a smile onto her lips. "Walter," she began, as calmly as she could. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you find some of the things I say and do so irritating."

"No, no, you don't have to apologise," Walter insisted. "I know that there has been some tension between us lately and I suspect it's probably my fault. You know that I have difficulty expressing myself sometimes. You have helped me enormously with my emotional development, but I don't always listen to your teachings so it is I who should be apologising."

Paige's smile became warmer. "I guess I still have a lot of work to do," she said.

"I am not a good student," noted Walter. "And, besides, I know what I said while I was in space wasn't easy for you to hear."

Paige suddenly held her breath and a wave of panic washed over her. Had he remembered all of a sudden? Did he remember declaring his love for her as she'd desperately tried to break into his delusional state to make him pull the release lever?

Toby had told her that it would be very bad if Walter's memory of those events ever came back to him as he wouldn't be able to process the fact that he had laid his emotions out so openly. Toby didn't know exactly what Walter had said to her, though. He had obviously been able to tell how deeply Paige had been affected by it, but maybe he had been wrong about the effect it would have on Walter? From what she could see Walter seemed to be coping quite well.

"It's OK, it was… it was an extreme situation," replied Paige, trying to keep her voice even. "So… so how much do you remember, exactly?" She wasn't sure she really wanted to know the answer.

"Hmmm," pondered Walter. "It's difficult to make an accurate estimate at this stage as I am having difficulty separating the delusions from the reality of my actions and words."

"I see," said Paige, although she really didn't. Maybe she could persuade Walter that his memories were all delusions? That would be the best option, she decided. The easiest option, the least painful. Although it would, she realised, be lying to Walter and that was the last thing she wanted to do. "Tell me what you remember and I can help you," she suggested.

Walter nodded. "OK, well, I remember… music," he said.

"Yes, that's right," replied Paige. "You were hallucinating that there was music playing." She decided not to mention that he was fantasising about dancing with her at the time.

"Hmmm," agreed Walter. "However, then it all becomes a little hazy."

"That might be for the best," offered Paige. If all he remembered was music then that wasn't so bad after all.

"Maybe," he agreed. "But, I said something to you, didn't I."

Paige's heart skipped a beat and the palms of her hands started to sweat. "Well… well, you said several things," she began. "We had a conversation. I was trying to get you to pull the lever, do you remember that?"

"Not clearly," admitted Walter. "But I'm talking about something specific that I said to you."

Paige said nothing for a moment. Her mind raced as she desperately tried to think of what to say to him if he really had remembered telling her he loved her. Did he also remember her saying the same to him? She had tried to convince herself that she'd only told him she loved him in order to save his life, but she knew that wasn't true. She did love him. She loved him more than she could put into words, but their relationship had faltered before it had even started so she had spent the last two years trying to move on. Tim had come into her life at just the right time and she cared about him, but he would never be Walter and Paige wasn't sure if she would ever be able to stop thinking that way.

"Except I don't remember exactly what it was I said." Walter shook his head in frustration as he spoke.

"You don't?" gasped Paige. The sense of relief that washed over her was almost as intense as the panic she had felt moments earlier.

"No," admitted Walter. "But I do know that whatever I said hurt you very much and I'm sorry. I can only assume it was something about your relationship with Tim."

"Oh, well," said Paige. "Um, well, please don't worry about it," she said. "You weren't in your right mind, I'm really not upset."

Walter frowned. "I know I'm not as good at reading people as Toby is, or even as good as a normal human, but I'm not a complete imbecile when it comes to emotions," he said. "It's obvious that you're upset with me because of whatever I said. I'm so sorry, Paige. I never meant to hurt you."

"You didn't," replied Paige, quietly. "Please, Walter, don't think about this anymore. I promise you that nothing you said to me that day…" she trailed off and bit hard on the inside of her lip as she felt her eyes fill with tears.

"Forgive me for disagreeing with you, but now you're crying and that suggests otherwise," said Walter. His expression was pained. He longed to hold her in his arms, but he had lost the right to be able to do that a long time ago. He knew it was all his fault, but that didn't stop the longing. His arm twitched by his side, but he was terrified of doing anything else to upset her.

If only he knew how much Paige longed to be held by him.

"And the genius Doctor Tobias M. Curtis cures yet another patient!"

Walter and Paige spun round to see the bedroom door open and Tony wheeling out Lisa in her wheelchair. She had colour in her cheeks again and she was smiling.

"Oh, Lisa, you look so much better!" exclaimed Paige, trying to quickly dry her tears before Toby saw them.

Toby had already seen them though and he raised his eyebrows questioningly. Paige shook her head dismissively, but she knew she'd be questioned about it later.

Toby returned his attention to his patient, just as Cabe, Sylvester and Happy came out of the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about. Ralph and Sophie appeared too and Sophie ran over to her mother with delight.

"Mom! You're out of bed!" she exclaimed, giving her a huge hug.

"You have Doctor Curtis here to thank for that," replied Lisa.

Toby shrugged with fake modesty. "Sometimes only a genius doctor will do," he said. "Especially when your old doctor is totally incompetent," he added with a grin. Then he turned to Sophie and smiled. "I've changed her regular medication, whacked some antibiotics into her to treat the infection – the right kind this time," he said, rolling his eyes in disgust, "and generally used my Harvard training and genius level IQ to get her on the road to recovery."

"You went to Harvard? Wow!" exclaimed Sophie, clearly impressed by this revelation.

"You mean he hasn't mentioned that already?" asked Walter with a sneer.

"Let's show you what we've done in the kitchen," said Cabe, keen to prevent another spat between Walter and Toby. "You now have remote control, retractable steps and safety cut-outs on the stove."

"And I've rearranged all the shelves and cupboards so that the heaviest items are within easy reach," added Sylvester with a smile.

"I can't thank you enough," said Lisa, a little overwhelmed. Sophie wheeled her mother into the kitchen with the others to show her the results of their handiwork.

Paige moved to follow just behind Walter, but Toby grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "You OK?" he asked her in a low voice as they were left alone.

Paige nodded. "He thinks he said something to me about Tim when he was in space," she explained. "He thinks he upset me and so he apologised."

Toby nodded slowly and narrowed his eyes. "But… but he's not remembering it right, is he," he stated. He wasn't quite sure what to make of Paige's emotional state at the moment. He had a few theories, but he couldn't be certain yet.

"No," she replied, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"Leave it, Paige," warned Toby. "If Walter wants to think that, let him think it. Don't push him to remember what really happened."

"I know, you said that before," replied Paige. "I took your advice, I think you're right."

"Of course I'm right," Toby answered indignantly. "Whatever happened between you two while he was up there is best left alone." Paige nodded, but Toby could tell she wasn't convinced. "I could talk to him for you, if you'd like?" he offered.

"No," replied Paige with determination. "It's OK, I agree it's for the best this way. What happened in space should stay in space," she added with a small laugh.

"You know, if I had five minutes with you I could probably figure it out," Toby pointed out, "but I'm backing off because, well, because I figure you'd prefer this one to stay private. Am I right?"

"Listen to you, respecting someone's privacy for a change," Paige said with a smirk. Then her expression became serious again. "Thank you, I really appreciate it," she said. "I need to deal with this on my own."

"OK," Toby replied. "But if you ever change your mind we can talk it through, just let me know."

"OK, I will," she promised and the two of them followed the others into the kitchen.

xXxXxXx

"That was Sophie on Skype," said Ralph, closing the lid of his laptop.

Team Scorpion were scattered around the garage having just finished five pizzas, three rounds of garlic bread and two bowls of salad that Paige had insisted on adding to the meal.

"How's Lisa?" asked Toby.

"She's doing great," replied Ralph. "She wanted to thanks us again for today," he added. "And so do I. I know Sophie and her Mom didn't really need help from geniuses, so I really appreciate all the work you did."

"They needed help and that's what we do," said Sylvester with a smile. "It doesn't matter if the only math I had to do today was calculate how many times a week Sophie lifted the Crock-Pot onto the counter top."

"Sylvester's right," agreed Walter. "And while I was re-cabling her router I used the time to mentally finish some algorithms I'd been working on to make our waste recycling system more efficient."

"Is that all you were thinking about?" asked Paige, glancing at Toby as she spoke.

Toby shook his head in a slow, warning manner, wishing she'd take his advice and drop the subject of Walter's memory loss like she'd promised.

Cabe walked back into the room before Walter had time to respond. "Just got off the phone with a guy who deals with the bereaved families of government agents ," he explained. "It looks like they might be entitled to a payout towards their living costs, so they should be able to move to a much more suitable apartment in the next few months."

"That's great news," smiled Paige.

"Sophie's Dad was involved in some big cases," continued Cabe. "Saved a lot of lives, she should be very proud. It's the least we can do in return. I know you guys are used to solving world threats, but it's good to remember the little people once in a while."

"I agree," smiled Paige. "We need days like this to keep us all grounded."

"Absolutely," agreed Walter.

"Gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, doesn't it, son," continued Cabe.

Happy scowled. "C'mon, Doc," she said. "Let's get to the movies before I puke."

"She really does have a sentimental side in there somewhere," Toby tried to convince the rest of the team, but all he got in return was a selection of disbelieving looks.

Walter frowned. "Warm and fuzzy? I'm not sure I understand."

Cabe rolled his eyes.

"Wait, you're going to the movies?" said Paige in surprise.

"Yes, why is that weird?" asked Happy in a more aggressive manner than she'd meant to.

"Oh, no reason," replied Paige with a wave of her hand. "It's just that I don't really see you as the movie going type."

"Oh she is," insisted Toby. "Back row, a little smooching in the dark, she loves all of that."

"No I don't," snapped Happy. "I'm only going with you because you said I'd like this movie."

"And you will," insisted Toby. "It's a classic from the 80's," he explained to the others with a huge grin. "Short Circuit."

"I assume the movie is about an engineer working to repair said short circuit before the large build-up of heat energy is released, putting the other characters in danger?" she asked.

Toby exchanged a glance with Paige. "Er, something like that," he replied. "Let's go before they sell out of pop-corn." He grabbed Happy's hand and they headed towards the door of the garage.

"Number five is alive!" Paige called after them with a grin.

"I've seen that movie," said Sylvester, shaking his head. "Happy's going to be so disappointed."

"C'mon, genius boy, let's go home," said Paige to her son. "I'm exhausted so I know you must be after today."

"You did a real good thing for young Sophie today, Ralph," said Cabe. "She's lucky to have you as a friend."

Ralph looked embarrassed and Paige laughed, lovingly ruffling Ralph's hair and smiled at Cabe.

"Sly, I'll drop you home, save you getting that night bus," said Cabe and he and a grateful Sylvester said their goodnights before leaving.

Ralph looked at Paige, who, despite hurrying him up only a few minutes earlier, didn't look in any rush to leave herself. "I'll wait for you in the car," he said. He didn't really understand it, but he knew she needed a moment alone with Walter.

"I think Ralph has sensed the, er, the atmosphere," said Walter, with a half-smile, half-smirk.

Paige laughed. "I thought you said that was abstract gobbledegook?"

"I believe I said psychobabble," Walter corrected her. "But yes, I did, although I'm willing to admit that there may be something in it after all." He paused before looking her straight in the eye. "I don't want there to be an atmosphere between us," he said, seriously.

"Neither do I," replied Paige.

"I… I care about… about…" Walter began. I wanted to tell her how he felt about her, at least a watered down version of how he felt, but he couldn't get the words out.

"I know," replied Paige, solemnly. "And so do I."

Walter was a little taken aback, but didn't feel able to ask her to explain herself. "So… so we're still friends?" he asked.

"Of course!" exclaimed Paige.

"That means a lot to me. I probably don't deserve your friendship," said Walter, hanging his head.

"Don't be silly," Paige replied. "I will always be your friend."

"Thank you," Walter answered. "Because I believe creating a bad atmosphere is not good for Scorpion."

"No, it certainly isn't," agreed Paige. There was so much more that she wanted to say to him, but she couldn't. Toby's words kept ringing in her ears and so she forced herself not to mention anything about Walter's hallucinations in space, even though she desperately wanted to tell him what they'd shared. Suddenly the sound of her phone ringing broke into her thoughts. She pulled it from her bag and stared at the screen. "Oh, it's… it's Tim," she said, wishing at that moment that it had been anyone but him.

"You should answer it," said Walter.

Paige nodded. "Goodnight, Walter," she said and she lifted the phone to her ear. "Hi, Tim," she said.

Walter watched as Paige walked out of the garage, talking animatedly into her phone. He let out a long, slow sigh and thought about their day.

Lisa had married her husband assuming they'd have a long and happy life together, but her dreams had been shattered by tragedy. If she had known how her life would turn out, would Lisa have done anything differently, Walter wondered. Should he be doing anything differently now with his own life?

"Of course I should…" he muttered to himself. "But… but I don't know how."

He switched off the light and climbed the stairs to the loft. He quickly fell into a deep sleep, dreaming – not for the first time – about dancing… and Baked Alaska.


End file.
